Click here to read Karl’s article.

I’ve been sleeping horribly lately, getting maybe 4 hours of sleep a night. I think last night my body finally chose to do something about it. I sat on the couch and promptly fell asleep. Wife roused me after a few hours to move me into the bedroom where I zonked right back out. Wife tells me I got almost 10 hours of sleep last night. I do feel better this morning.

Upon waking, I got deeply into a programming problem on a new project for my company and didn’t realize what time it was. Before I knew it, time to go to the gym had passed and time to start the day job workday had to start.

So, no squats for me today.  Won’t be able to make it up. Will just deal with it and start cycle 6 on Monday.

Today was gear lubes. Changing the front differential gear oil, the rear differential gear oil, and the transfer case. I’ve never changed these things in my life. Well, on my motorcycle I sorta did — the V*Star 1100′ is a shaft-drive, so I did change the gear oil on the final drive there. And essentially these were no different, other than being a lot harder to get to.

The rear diff was difficult just because it was cramped and difficult to get my arms in the right places. The oil stunk pretty bad too. I’m not sure it was ever changed because the magnet had a huge cake of shavings on it. This was time consuming as well because of the need to scrape off the old gasket. Wasn’t hard, just time consuming. I’m thankful tho I still had some gasket sealant left over from the motorcycle days; came in handy for putting on the new gasket. Put almost 3 quarts of Mobil 1 75W-90 in it.

The front diff was pretty easy, since it was just removing the skid plate, then simply removing the fill bolt and drain bolt. Use about 2 quarts of Valvoline DuraBlend 80w-90 here.

The transfer case was a bit of a pain, but only because AutoZone had only one pump, made for gallon jugs. So Daughter and I had to do some jury rigging to get the pump working right. We did like that the GM AutoTrak II fluid is Smurf-blue.

Ran her through all the gears and all the drives. Went around the neighborhood. All seemed OK. I’m a little nervous that I did everything right, that I got the proper amounts of fluid in everything. I think that’s just because it’s a first time doing it and you always get a little nervous about your first time performance.  We’ll see if there are any puddles under the truck in the morning and how things hold up in the days to come.

I am going to let someone else change the transmission fluid and filter, and the coolant. It’s a matter of 1. the hassle, 2. the amount of liquid and being able to properly handle and dispose of it. Maybe I can do that next week. There’s only a few things left to do, and who knows… if the shop will do them for a reasonable price I may just have them do it and be done with it. I don’t mind doing it all myself, but it’s coming down to a time/hassle factor.

However, before [the wanted fugitive] could climb the fence, Willis came face-to-face with [the 64-year-old] Granville, who pointed a gun right at his face and said, “Don’t you move mother f*****, I will shoot you! I will shoot you where you stand!”

For a mother who loves John Wayne and has a concealed weapon’s license, that was her moment.

“He says, ‘Please don’t shoot me, please don’t shoot me.’ I says, ‘Don’t you move, you’re moving.’ I said, ‘Don’t you move.’ Then, he put his hands behind his head. I says, ‘You’re moving!” Granville described.

Granville said she didn’t know if Willis had a weapon, so she kept her gun trained on him until deputies arrived.

Just awesome. Full story.

The sad part tho is the reality of why she felt the need to arm herself in the first place.

Granville said she’s been shooting guns her entire life, but it was previous drug deals and a murder on her street that motivated her to arm herself to keep her family safe.

“They’ll shoot you, they’ll break in. They’ll get whatever they want, and I says it’s not going to happen to me because I will shoot them,” Granville said.

But at least she accepts the reality of her situation and is willing to do something about it herself, instead of delegating the responsibility for her  safety to someone else (and then being surprised and angry when reality demonstrates they can’t save her).

“Week 4″

• Deload – Bench Press (working max: 215#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x85
  • 1x5x110
  • 1x5x130
• Asst. #1 – Bench Press
  • 5 x 10 x 125
• Asst. #2 – 1-Arm Dumbbell Rows
  • 5 x 10 x 55
• GPP – Elliptical
  • Tabata style (20 sec. 150-ish strides per min., 10 sec. 100-ish strides per min)
  • 2 minutes slow (warmup)
  • 1 Tabata set
  • 2 minutes slow (cooldown)
• DeFranco Agile 8 – just foam rolling

It’s deload week. Nothing exciting to say. Go in, lift, leave.

I think I’ve officially dropped doing Agile 8, but I sure love foam rolling. Makes a difference, especially on my back.

Only other thing I can think to mention is my body is adapting to the GPP work, which is good. I’m not sure I need to adjust the settings on the machine… maybe a slight up in resistence. But I do think the main thing I need at this point is MORE work. So instead of 8 reps, let’s bump it to 9, then 10, and so on. I’ll probably go 9 or 10 next cycle and see how things fare.

The latest article? Educational Zone #143 – What is the best weapon for home defense?

I’ve written before about home defense tools and referred to the BOT for supporting evidence. Old_Painless doesn’t use this article as a way to spout his opinion, but rather to report on numerous FACTS about home defense weapons, specifically choosing between a handgun, a shotgun, or a carbine (rifle).

He talks about each weapon platform, the advantages and disadvantages they have. Plus he busts some common myths. He’s pretty sound throughout most of the article, and you’d do well to read it. I’m not going to reprint it here, go click and read.

I did want to comment on a few points.

* Pistol advantage of them being convenient. This is true and really the main (only?) reason for a handgun (vs. a long gun). He states how this convenience factor is good because you can carry them on your person. Very true. And that you can conceal them out in public. Also true. But that concealment isn’t a big factor in home defense. Strictly speaking, that’s true. But one consideration implied here is that because you can carry them on your person — you should. Even if you’re not licensed to carry them in public, you can carry them on your person in your home (tho check your local laws). Why do this? Because the most useful tool is the one you have when you need it. You cannot know when someone will bust down your door. Not everyone is able to have a gun spaced every 3 feet in their house. For most people, getting to a dedicated home defense gun will take some time, or maybe some planning and money to ensure enough are laid around the house in accessible places. Tho of course, if you have kids, that accessibility may have to be limited and that could also increase cost. All those precious seconds to get to the shotgun could be costly. But if you have the gun on your hip, you have it right here, right now, no time wasted.

A little story. A few days ago I was home alone. Sasha (our Kuvasz) was downstairs barking at something outside. She came up to my office and parked it in a way to say “Dad, there’s something down there”. I said “OK girl, let’s go check it out”. I let her go down the hallway in front of me. Usually she does not stop at the top of the stairs, but this time she stopped — and started barking. This was peculiar behavior. My immediate reaction? I drew my gun to a retention ready position. An instant later, my brain processed that the alarm wasn’t going off so no one should be in the house. Still, I kept my gun drawn and away we investigated. Turned out to be nothing of consequence, but still… I was set into a high degree of condition orange and didn’t have any time wasted going back to fetch my AR-15. Don’t just think of a handgun as a concealment piece. It’s a tool you can carry thus you should carry. A tool is only useful if you have it when you need it.

* Shotguns – ammo. Yes, the Federal FLITECONTROL is the only stuff worthy of consideration. See my investigation of shotgun ammo. Tom Givens prefers the 8 pellet 00 buck. I’ve been using 9 pellet but will probably switch to 8 once I run out of my supply.

If you can, get the low recoil version. If it’s not labeled as such, look at the velocity. The regular loads will be something like 1300-ish fps, and the low recoil is something like 1145 fps.

Oh, and perhaps a controversial stance but, while I personally prefer a pump action, it’s a more complex manual of arms. If you are selecting this weapon for someone who may not be willing to train that much, you might want to consider a semi-auto shotgun. They generally generate less recoil than a pump. Plus, the manual of arms is generally simpler: point and click, and click again, and click again. Sure if they malfunction it’s a bigger mess, but hopefully if you’re entrusting your life to this gun you’ve done the work to ensure it’s reliable and can feed through with a high degree of confidence. If you can get the low-recoil buck to work with it, great, but it may not cycle… so yes, you better do a lot of testing beforehand.

* Shotguns – reloading. After taking Rangemaster’s Defensive Shotgun course, you realize a big part of working a shotgun is reloading. Practice it. A lot. Get dummy rounds.

* “4. Myth – You should use the firearm you are most comfortable with.”

I’ll agree with his general premise here, because while we’re all most comfortable with a little .22, that’s not the most effective stopper thus you ought to get more comfortable with better systems.

But that said, we should accept that not everyone can work a big rifle or shotgun. Some little arthritic elderly woman may only be able to handle a little .22 pistol. If that’s all she can do, just make sure she gets a heck of a lot of practice with it. So sometimes “comfort” matters.

Really tho, that’s more a matter of ability than comfort. Old_Painless’ point is to not use “comfort” as an excuse, because getting seriously injured or killed will be much more uncomfortable.

Anyways, it’s a good article. Presents the facts well. Alas, I’m sure the myths and misinformation will still float around. But please, do your part to be informed and stop the spread of bad information opinion.

Pro FB players need to change nothing. Zero. Unless one of us have played 12+ years in the NFL and can comment from experience and have coached as a SC coach in the NFL for a decade or more, it’s nothing more than being Al Bundy. I realize that this is way off topic but it drives me nuts when anyone criticizes something that have never, ever done or ever will. Grow fucking balls and realize you don’t have all the answers. And listen to Sabbath. And fuck your wife every night. And make sure she never goes a day without being fully appreciated. Hug your kids every day but don’t be their fucking best friend. Use baby wipes post-dump too.

- Jim Wendler (a post he made on the 5/3/1 Facebook Page)

Rather inspired and excited am I about prospects ahead.

The goal? To replace everything that I can replace. Fix all that I can fix. Update all I can update. Within reason.

It’s a used vehicle. I don’t know how well it was maintained, the condition of the fluids, and so on. I can tell some, but not all. I want to put as much as I can into a known good state. Besides, with 95K miles already on it, if these things haven’t been done they sure need to be done if I want to keep this truck going for another 100-200K miles.

Now first, I must give some credit where it’s due. I owe much to foo.c for getting me going. I didn’t grow up under the hood of a car. Sure, since I turned 16 and got my drivers license I tinkered on what little non-intimidating things I could, and I paid attention to regular maintenance, but I paid someone else to do the work. Anything that required working on the engine I did not do, save replacing an alternator on an old minivan many years ago. Then some many years ago, foo.c showed me how to change my own oil. My reaction — “that’s it?”  I was surprised at how easy it was, and a little ashamed I hadn’t tried it sooner. Since then I’ve only paid for an oil change once, because that one time I didn’t have the time, wasn’t going to have the time, and the change was overdue.

Then I got my motorcycle some years ago, and tinkered heavily on that doing all the regular maintenance plus various modifications including exhaust, intake/carb mods, and even changing the cams. I was well over being afraid or intimidated of such things; in fact, I really liked it.

I’ve done my best to tackle jobs on the family cars, but I just can’t do it all. On the minivan, there’s not much I can do due to how they designed and assembled everything. Something that should be simple, like changing the alternator, is nothing I can tackle on my own due to the horrible location of the thing and the level of pain and tools/equipment involved to get to it. *sigh*  But I’ll do what I can.

Then I got the truck. I admit tho that the notion of maintaining the truck did intimidate me a bit, and once again foo.c helped me get a handle on things. I realize tho that it’s like most source of intimidation, it came from being unaware and ignorant of what’s involved — I just didn’t have any info to go on, what’s involved, how to do the work, etc.. After reviewing things he told me, the Chilton manual, and YouTube videos (gee but the Internet is great), most everything seems like a piece of cake. I’m just going to slowly whittle away at the to-do list trying to tackle one job per day/weekend (whenever I have time).

So far:

• new wiper blades
• new battery – existing battery was failing load test during the pre-purchase inspection, so this was bought shortly after I pulled off the dealer’s lot.
• oil change – used Valvoline DuraBlend, and a Mobil 1 M-206 filter (foo.c tipped me off that while the M-107 is the proper filter, the M-206 fits and is just slightly longer to give more filter media).
• new air filter — paper, I’ll change it every year.
• new belts (serpentine and a/c)

From what I can tell so far, I do think the truck was maintained by the prior owners. One funny example? When I took off the front skid plate to replace the a/c belt, there was a crumpled up piece of paper in there. It was a receipt from an oil change at a shop. Not sure how it got there, but there it was… a little bit of confirmed history for the truck.

That said, it was interesting the serpentine belt looked fairly new, but the a/c belt was old and cracked. I’m not sure why they replaced the one belt and not the other since you have to remove the serpentine to get to the a/c belt anyways. The serpentine didn’t really need changing, but I figured there was no harm in changing it while I was at it.

Next up is stuff like changing the front and rear differential oil and the transfer case oil. Doesn’t look hard, just a matter of doing the work. I’ll be most curious to see the condition of those oils, to see if they were ever changed. Spark plugs will be done, but looking at the engine and placement of the plugs I don’t wanna… tho foo.c tells me only a couple are a bitch to deal with. I’ll probably get foo.c to help me with the brakes… they don’t need it, but I figure why not, replace that fluid and put new pads on everything.

I do think I will pay someone for a couple of things. Transmission fluid and filter I may get someone else to do, or foo.c to help me. I’ll also probably have the coolant drain/flush done by someone else because I just don’t have the ability to safely handle that much fluid.

The best part? Daughter is helping me with everything. For whatever reason she’s taken an interest in learning about it all, how everything works, how to do all of this work. Certainly some things I have to do because she’s just not strong enough, but I’m letting her do all that she can and teaching her what I can. We’re learning together on this and having a lot of fun. I don’t know how long it will last, but I’ll take what I can.

“Week 4″

• Deload – Deadlift (working max: 305#)
  • 2x5x125
  • 2x5x155
  • 2x5x185

• Deload – Press (working max: 145#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x60
  • 1x5x75
  • 1x5x90
• Asst. #1 – Press
  • 5 x 10 x 70
• Asst. #2 – Supinated Close-grip Pulldowns
  • 5 x 10 x 130
• GPP – Elliptical
  • Tabata style (20 sec. 150-ish strides per min., 10 sec. 100-ish strides per min)
  • 2 minutes slow (warmup)
  • 1 Tabata set
  • 2 minutes slow (cooldown)
• Grip
  • 3x10xT, 2 sec. hold between reps
  • 3x3x1, 2 sec. hold between reps, 10 sec. hold on the last rep

In previous cycles, I handled deload along the normal schedule. After I got the 2nd edition of Wendler’s 5/3/1 book, that made me take another look at scheduling the “3 days per week” cycle. Yes, it was not a typo, you are supposed to double-up on the deload week to make it last just a week, not a week and a half. So press and deadlift end up getting merged onto the same day during deload week. But I figured as well, that would make quite a long workout with all the assistance work for both days, so I opted to modify and do what assistance I thought mattered most. In this case, I kept in the assistance pressing and the lat pulldowns. I don’t NEED the Good Morning work as much as I need the press work, and the pulldowns let me control impact to my shoulder better than the hanging leg-hip raises. So there we go.

Nothing really to write home about. It’s deload week. Take it easy. I did my work. I did not rest-pause things (again, deload). I did spend a little more time on the elliptical… probably had 4 minutes of cooldown instead. Had earbuds in listening to music and “I like this song, want to hear it to the end, just keep going”.

Stay warm out there….

Here’s the text from the agenda:

         The proposed amendment to §65.11, concerning Lawful Means, would allow the use of firearm silencers to hunt alligators, game animals and game birds. Under current rule, the use of sound-suppressing devices to hunt alligators, game animals or game birds is unlawful. The department has determined that there is no resource- or enforcement-related reason to prohibit the use of firearm silencers for the take of alligators, game animals or game birds, and therefore proposes to eliminate the current prohibition. The department notes that if the proposed is adopted, it will not relieve any person of the obligation to otherwise comply with any applicable state, federal, or local law governing the possession or use of firearm silencers. The proposed amendment also alters §65.11(3) to include additional counties to the applicability of the provisions governing the use of crossbows. This change is necessary to ensure consistency with the changes to §65.42 discussed elsewhere in this preamble.

Yes please!

Why? Well, first consider their own wording: “The department has determined there is no resource- or enforcement-related reason to prohibit the use….”  So on the one hand, I like this because they see no sound reason to keep a rule around, so they’re going to discard it. This is how things should work! Simplification. Enhancing freedom. Enabling choice. Plus, it also frees up the department and those bound to enforce the rules from work that serves no gain, thus enabling them to focus on work that matters.

Here’s an article with more reasons for suppressors.

But to me, this hits closer to home.

On this last deer hunting trip, Daughter got her ears rung pretty bad. Yes I know, I should have had hearing protection on her — I do know better, but I often don’t while hunting so I can hear what’s going on around me. Plus, the muzzle is out the blind window and due to the structure of things it usually works out ok. But this past one? Not so much. I regret it and do feel awful for it. But this is the trade-off that we have to deal with: to hear the game, but then to not hear the gunshot. I do have electronic muffs, but while they work great for me on the range, I find in the woods, not so much. Different dynamic.

But if we could have suppressors? What a world of difference it would make!

I can legally own a suppressor here in Texas, but I can’t use it for deer or game hunting. I could use it to take exotic deer, I have gone on hog hunts with suppressed rifles. And so why if we can take those with it, why can’t we take game animals? What’s the difference? Apparently none, and it’s great to see TPWD recognizing that and moving on the item.

So what to do?

Well, right now we wait. TPWD will have their meeting on January 25, 2012. After that we’ll know more about how to proceed. It will be a matter of public comment, and you’ll want to be sure to add your comment in favor of suppressor use.

While I understand their marketing sentiment, I’m going to request people to NOT spent their tax refund with them. Nothing personal against CTD, but I think that one’s personal finance should be more responsible.

Actually it’s interesting. Just yesterday I saw this article on Cracked.com about “The 5 Stupidest Habits You Develop Growing Up Poor“.

#4. Extra Money Has to Be Spent Right Goddamn Now!

Every poor person I knew got a big check one time a year in the form of their tax return. They made just enough money to file taxes, and made little enough to claim “earned income credit,” which is a tax credit that can dramatically boost your return. For my ex-wife and I, it meant getting around $5,000 at the end of January. And just like many poor people, we’d be broke within days of cashing that check, our living room sporting a new TV. Or we’d replace our old computers and all of our furniture. There’s a reason many poor people blow through that money instead of saving it for future bills.

[...]

When a windfall check is dropped in your lap, you don’t know how to handle it. Instead of thinking, “This will cover our rent and bills for half a year,” you immediately jump to all the things you’ve been meaning to get, but couldn’t afford on your regular income. If you don’t buy it right now, you know that the money will slowly bleed away to everyday life over the course of the next few months, leaving you with nothing to show for it. Don’t misunderstand me here, it’s never a “greed” thing. It’s a panic thing. “We have to spend this before it disappears.”

I totally understand the mentality. Been there, done that.

The truth is, you will have something to show for it. It may not be some big screen TV or a car, but you can still show something for it.

For example, do you have debt? How about paying down that debt, especially if it’s high-interest debt such as credit cards. Of course, it then requires you to have enough discipline to not get back into debt thinking “gee, I have lots of unused credit on my credit card, shopping spree!”. Been there, done that. You just wasted all of your money and are going to be worse off.

If you don’t have debt, how about saving that money? Rainy days happen. Or perhaps better, see about investing that money, putting it to work for you and growing it. If you want to try that but aren’t sure where to start, consider index funds. No, overall not the best investment vehicle, but they can be a good way to start, take a lot of mystery out of things, simple enough, and get your ball rolling.

Or even better… try to see if you can adjust your tax situation and withholding and such so you strive to come out even on your income tax return. Don’t give the .gov a no-interest loan of your money. It is your money, you should hold onto it and make it work for you. If we go back to that investment consideration, perhaps the extra money you get in your paycheck after adjusting it, since you’ll be used to not seeing it anyways, just turn that money right around into investments. Investing that money every paycheck, over time, will add up into bigger and better things for you.

I do understand a desire to “spend your tax refund”, especially because it’s a big fat check and the windfall is nice. But it’s better to hold onto your money instead of forking it over to someone else, and work to develop the discipline and responsibility to save up that money over time yourself, invest it, and work to grow bigger things. You will have something better to show for it.

“Week 3″

• 5/3/1 – Squat (working max: 250#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x100
  • 1x5x125
  • 1x3x150
  • 1x5x190 (work)
  • 1x3x215
  • 1x5x240 (PR)
• Asst. #1 – Leg Press
  • 5 x 10 x 275
• Asst. #2 – Leg Curls
  • 5 x 10 x 80
• GPP – Elliptical
  • Tabata style (20 sec. 150-ish strides per min., 10 sec. 100-ish strides per min)
  • 2 minutes slow (warmup)
  • 1 Tabata set
  • 2 minutes slow (cooldown)
• DeFranco Agile 8

Setting a squat PR today of 1x5x240 may not seem like a huge PR, but it is. For far too long I’ve been hovering with this 230# issue. Worked up to it doing the SS/PPNP program but form was horrible so I reset. Shortly after resetting I switched to the Wendler 5/3/1 program, which is much slower progress. Then during this I opted to hang around that level for a while while I changed around my GPP. But finally, everything is coming together and I’ve officially blown through that 230 barrier and setbacks and did 240 today. Felt pretty good too! Onwards.

On leg presses, I did some reading up on the range of motion one should use. There doesn’t seem to be any hard limits here, but the big point stressed is to keep your (lower) back in contact with the backrest. So today I played around with backrest settings to find what worked best for me (all the way down, lowest setting). Repositioned my feet slightly to be closer to my squat stance, and then the range of motion isn’t all the way touching the bottom stops/guards, but almost. It’s more that I’m getting my legs and thighs into the same position as the bottom of the squat, then pressing out explosively, again working to replicate my squat. The whole time, keeping focus on my lower back to ensure nothing curls up. If I’m not careful, in the lower position I can get a curl, but it’s slight. So I just have to keep things focused to keep the arch in my back. Good things. I reckon next cycle I’ll go to 315 and that’ll probably hold me for a little while.

On leg curls, today I just opted to up the weight 5# to 80 because of the lack of additional stress from switching to leg press. That worked. I’ll stick with this during next week’s deload and then go to 85 the week after.

I’ve been thinking about the elliptical stuff. I think the incline setting of “10″ is good. I might up the resistance level just slightly to more closely replicate the real life resistance I’d feel running up a hill. “12″ is a close setting but not quite. Maybe 14. But once I find myself in the right groove, I decided the way to increase the work is to just increase the workload. Instead of doing 8 “reps”, I’ll work my way up to say 15. I think that may do more for me than just making the resistance higher.

All in all, feeling good. Looking forward to next week’s deload.

When I first heard the rumor, I was curious because it was reportedly happening nearby (San Antonio), but skeptical. I figured we could look into it tho to see if there was any credibility to it. I mean, if the local sheriff met with folks, certainly that’d be on record wouldn’t it? Certainly there’d be hundreds of people who listened to the sheriff that could back this up, right?

Alas, we found nothing.

Finally, a credible response, dispelling the rumor.

I figure tho like most rumors spreading on the Internet, this one is going to continue to float around for many many years. Please work to help dispel it.

While Dave is talking at a CrossFit seminar and is talking about human potential in a sports realm, there’s a lot of stuff (mostly in the first half of the video) where Dave’s talk about human potential is applicable to life in general.

Their “political currency” is the tragedy of their victim “heroes”. Ours is the enabling of self reliance and determination. There is no common ground upon which to compromise or even talk.

I don’t quite agree with some about the “just don’t engage them” stance; some nuts are just tougher to crack. But I do agree with Joe… mostly, because while there may be no common ground now, there may be in the future or just that we have yet to discover what the common ground is. But it does take two to tango, and if they refuse to listen to reason, if they refuse reasonable discussion, then in their ignorant stew they will remain.

Still using Moneydance. Still happy with my purchase. Sure, some of the Java GUI quirks bug me, but the reality is it does all I want and does it pretty well. I’m pleased.

But here’s something really cool they recently did: they revamped their license. They made it a lot simpler. For personal users, it’s one license per household. Doesn’t matter how many people use it, how many computers it’s installed on, how many different OS’s it’s installed under, how many data files, whatever. And “As always, we promise that we’ll never sunset our software, remove functionality from older versions, or force you to upgrade.” Which is pretty nice. Speaking as a software developer, that’s a tough promise to keep, so I applaud their efforts.

What I also dug was their reasoning:

Why are we making this change? First, because we recognize that the world is changing:  households may now be multi-generational, include blended families or housemates, or have other structures which are more complex than two adults sharing finances. Second, because we wanted to even further simplify our licensing agreement. Finally, we want to make it easier for kids, teens, and students to learn about personal finance, and we believe that Moneydance can be a great tool for the entire family.

Very cool.

“Week 3″

• 5/3/1 – Bench Press (working max: 215#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x85
  • 1x5x110
  • 1x3x130
  • 1x5x165 (work)
  • 1x3x185
  • 1x6x205 (PR)
• Asst. #1 – Bench Press
  • 5 x 10 x 125
• Asst. #2 – 1-Arm Dumbbell Rows
  • 5 x 10 x 55
• GPP – Elliptical
  • Tabata style (20 sec. 150-ish strides per min., 10 sec. 100-ish strides per min)
  • 2 minutes slow (warmup)
  • 1 Tabata set
  • 2 minutes slow (cooldown)
• DeFranco Agile 8 – just foam rolling

Today was weird.

My lower back is rather sore from deadlifting 2 days ago. You know how it goes… day after you’re sore, 2 days later you’re REALLY sore. Then last night before bed I couldn’t pop something in my lumbar region and that just made it worse. Finally got it to adjust this morning, but it still hurt. Then while doing my PR set on bench press, I was really tightening up. I’ve been working on putting my whole body into the bench press, keeping my feet really planted, pushing through my heels, whole body tight, whole body pushing, but keep the butt on the bench, keep an arch, etc.. And while I still have a LONG way to go on getting the technique, I did make progress because boy I had an arch today — almost too much arch. My lower back was screaming at me. I only cranked out 6 reps because my back was screaming, it surprised me and threw off my focus, and that was that. Between sets for the rest of the workout I kept doing lower back stretching exercises.

But I don’t feel bad about it. While it hurt, it showed that to some degree there was improvement in my technique. Whereas before things were collapsing down there, today they weren’t, which was awesome. Again, lots of work still to improve, but a step forward is a step forward. And as for 6 reps with 205? Well, last cycle I did 6 with 200. So no regression, I’ve gotten stronger. I can’t be unhappy about the progress.

Everything else just jammed along. I had to use another elliptical machine today and the resistance didn’t feel the same. It should be, in theory, but didn’t feel it. So I bumped it to “13″, and I’ll stick with that number on the machine I regularly use and see how it goes. I don’t really want to up this too much too fast.

A pretty decent day, I must say.

Tim relayed this story to me:

I went shooting last Thursday [with a friend]. His gun was having multiple malfunctions and when I checked it it was pretty much dry. That was his carry gun and that’s scary!

Yes, that is. This is the tool you rest your life upon. You want it to work when you need it.

I recall a couple of years ago, a friend came over to my house. When he racked the slide on his carry gun to unload it, I cringed from the sound of everything grinding — the gun was so dry.

So when was the last time you oiled your gun?

If it’s a carry gun, it doesn’t need to be sopping wet, but it needs something. Consider treating your parts with Militec-1 if the liquids could be an issue for you. Moving parts, where metal meets metal, thus friction and grind occurs, you need lubrication.

How about your holster? All the screws tight? Blue Loctite applied to the threads?

Flashlight have good batteries?

Spare magazine in good shape?

How about your springs? any spring anywhere in the whole of the system. How are they looking?

Like any tool, be it a hammer, your car, a knife, a gun, whatever. Everything lasts longer and performs better with a little maintenance. Doesn’t take much time, but the payoff is well worth it.

I just want to go drive somewhere. It doesn’t matter. I just want to drive.

It’s like a kid a Christmas. You get new toys, you want to play with them.

They are a small company in Buda, Texas (just south of Austin) crafting ammunition. From their website:

One of the driving forces behind the creation of PBR was the disappointment we had with the quality of practice ammunition being sold by some small manufacturers. It doesn’t take many jammed cartridges or inconsistent firings to make you start to wonder if those “cheap” rounds really represent a savings at all. Having had our semi-automatic handguns reduced to single-shot pistols frustrated us and we decided to do something about it.

In addition, we also recognized that many people don’t want to stand in front of a press for hours on end to “save” money by loading ammunition themselves. In many cases this is a false economy for anyone who puts a realistic value on their time. So, we decided to use our combined 25 years of ammunition loading and engineering experience to create a company that can produce a viable and affordable practice round that is still top quality. Remember, time spent pulling a handle on a press is time that could be used to pull a trigger and more time is one thing you can’t buy.

I have heard of them before, but have never tried their ammo, mostly because I reload my own. That said, I appreciate what they’re doing because I like reloading for the higher quality and cost savings. But it is true, it’s only cost savings if you have time to spend.

Rog posted on Facebook tho that perked my interest: the Customer Brass Program.

Basically, you send them your new or once-fired brass, and they’ll load it up for you. The cost savings? No Firearms and Ammunition Excise Tax. Plus brass is generally the most expensive component, and so you’re not having to pay for that component.

Prices seem reasonable, if the prices listed on their website are in fact the price you pay. Hard to say exactly what the final cost is as there are some other factors they have to take into account. Plus there’s always shipping, but if you’re in the area I would imagine you could drop off and pick up (don’t know for sure).

Nevertheless, this seems like a neat solution. They offer numerous calibers, and if in fact it can keep your costs down, that’s a win.

“Week 3″

• 5/3/1 – Deadlift (working max: 305#)
  • 1x5x125 (warmup)
  • 1x5x155
  • 1x3x185
  • 1x5x230 (work)
  • 1x3x265
  • 1x8x295 (PR)
• Asst. #1 – Good Mornings
  • 5 x 10 x 70
• Asst. #2 – Hanging LegHip Raise
  • 5 x 5 x WT
• GPP – Elliptical
  • Tabata style (20 sec. 150-ish strides per min., 10 sec. 100-ish strides per min)
  • 2 min slow (warmup)
  • 1 Tabata set
  • 2 min slow (cooldown)
• DeFranco Agile 8 – foam rolled
• Grip
  • 3x10xT, 2 sec. hold between reps
  • 3x3x1, 2 sec. hold between reps, 10 second hold on the last rep

1x8x295 is a nice personal record. What I really like about it tho is how I’m set up for the next 2 cycles, not just for the PR’s but how they are some cool milestones. Next cycle I’ll do 305, which breaks the 300# barrier, and the cycle after I’ll do 315, which will be 3 45# plates per side, another cool milestone. And then it’s on to 325, and so on.

I wasn’t sure how to assess today’s PR, but I realized that last cycle I did 1x8x285, so, same reps, more weight, that’s an acceptable improvement. I’m stoked.

On good mornings, I want to focus more on moving like a hinge, and keeping a belly full of air as I move — Valsalva. I don’t get as much a range of motion, but everything works better.

On the leg raises, due to my continuing weird shoulder issues I told myself I’d rather get 5×5 awesome reps than 5×7 or 8 reps where I am exhausted, pushing myself too hard, lose tension in my shoulder area, and make things worse. And so, I did that. The right shoulder still got that odd twinge. It’s not a bone thing, it’s like this odd ache in the medial deltoid muscle. I’d have a doctor look at it, but I don’t know what to tell them….

Gripper work is progressing nicely too. I didn’t need much help on the left hand save for the last rep of the last set so I could do the 10 second hold with a fully-closed gripper. This is all good progress. I’ll probably bump to 3×4 or 3×5 next cycle.

All in all, a great way to start off the week.

Wife says this finally makes me a Texan (she’s a native, I’m a transplant). My father-in-law says no, it doesn’t make me a Texan, it makes me a redneck Texan.

I purchased my now-former car brand new 17 years ago. I credit it lasting so long to the fact I don’t have to drive it as a daily commuter, but it did see enough miles in a year. I wanted to drive it until it couldn’t drive any more. A few years ago the engine starting having problems. I did a few things to help it limp along, but evidently it was on the way out. It’s now at a point where the repairs cost more than I’m willing to spend, so it came time to look for a replacement.

I spent a lot of time (many months, on and off) trying to decide what I needed. Most of my driving is people-hauling, be it me going somewhere or me taking Kiddos somewhere. Thus I wanted something that could comfortably seat everyone and not be horrible on my wallet (MPG). But the way my life is going, all-wheel/4WD drive would be mighty useful. And most of all, some way to haul things that were dirty. For example, after hunting, being able to haul a deer or hog out of a muddy pasture. So all signs were pointing to a truck. Because of the “people hauling” aspect I started to look at smaller trucks, like Toyota Tacoma’s or Nissan Frontier’s (I like the Tacoma styling, but the Frontier seems to have the edge in terms of performance and abilities so I leaned towards it). But in the end, they were just too small. I’m tired of being a big guy stuck in a small car. Plus with the Kiddos growing, smaller solutions no longer work. I tried getting into an extended cab but no go; crew cab was the only option. Plus I figured for the future, a full-sized truck could give me options like renting a travel trailer for a fun weekend getaway.

So truck it is.

It needed to be reliable, able to last a long time (with good maintenance of course), haul people, handle my other life needs (e.g. hunting). I started by looking at new trucks but the cost just turned me off. Sure that Ford EcoBoost engine seems mighty awesome, but the cost of a new Ford F-150 with a crew cab and 4×4? Just way out of my budget. It’s hard for me to justify such an expense, and I refuse to go into debt for this. I hate buying used because  you never can truly know the history and what you’re getting. But I figured if I priced it low enough and did enough research and investigation, I could get something that hopefully would be “good enough” and last “long enough” to at least make all the money factors work out.

In the end I settled on a 2006 Chevy Silverado 1500 Crew Cab, 4×4, 5.3L V8 I found at an independent dealer (and I’ve been looking for some months). foo.c has owned and worked on Chevy’s much of his life and said, based upon the listing, the truck looked like a creampuff and could be alright. I checked the CarFax, I got a pre-purchase inspection through Auto P.I.. The truck didn’t check out perfectly: some cosmetics, a tiny leak in a transmission line, A/C belt should be replaced before summer gets here, battery load test was weak, front left tire was losing air (I believe I found a nail in the tread), and the normal wear and tear on a truck of that age and miles. The “things that mattered” all checked out well, inspector said it looked like the truck had been well-maintained over the years. None of the problems bothered me too much, and I took them into account when making my offer. They accepted. I have no idea who got the better end of the deal, the dealer or myself, but based upon all that I saw, the edmunds.com True Market Value®, and other factors, I do think I got a good deal. Plus, I think I’ve got a vehicle that suits my needs. If not, I chalk it up to being my first truck and I’ll learn from the experience.

I’ve already replaced the battery and windshield wipers. I think I’ll get the front 2 tires replaced later this week (rotate the old rear to the front, put the new on the rear). I’ve got a deal with foo.c and will be heading up to his place one Saturday soon and together we’ll replace all the fluids, filters, plugs and wires, if we can handle the leak and A/C belt then great, and whatever else we can. I picked up both the Haynes and Chilton manuals.

Oh and yes… the kids are  excited about the truck — we had to go to dinner at Sonic the evening I brought it home.

And the first time I chomped down on the gas, the throttle opened, and tons of gasoline was injected into that engine to hurtle me down the road? I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself as I realized I now had my very own Chevy EarthFucker™ :-) Now I just need to do like a buddy of mine and get a “Hybrid” badge. Heh heh.

Gee… now I can’t wait to go hunting.

I think my father-in-law is right. I’ve become a redneck Texan. My mother is shaking her head and sighing.

Speaking as someone that’s worked from home for 11+ years, I’ve gained some perspective into the matter. I’d like to add my own input to the author’s 5 points:

1. You don’t feel you are working

The author’s point here is how work life and personal life can blend. True that. To an extent, this is a good thing. You can have a greater flexibility in life, within the constraints the job allows you. For instance, I spent many years working with folks in California, 2 hours behind me. I’m a morning person. These two things together didn’t always allow our schedules to mesh because as I’m winding up my day they’d just be digging into theirs. But I didn’t let THEIR constraints control my life. Instead, I just had to make some accommodations, such as accepting that sometimes I’ll have a meeting that’s very late in the day for me. I also made a point to check my work email in the evenings.

But that said, you really do have to work at keeping work work and personal personal. You cannot let your life become one giant smear of workandpersonallifetogether. It takes discipline and learning to draw lines AND sticking to them. Plus, you have to ensure people at work come to respect those lines. As well, the folks at home also have to respect those lines.

Which brings us to…

2. Your family members won’t understand that you are working

This is simple (but not easy). Draw lines and enforce them. Make sure the lines and rules are clear to everyone, and stick to them. For example, if my door is shut, you don’t come in. If you need me, you knock. Do not expect an answer if I’m in a meeting or perhaps deeply ensconced in a debug session. You must respect it, unless it’s an emergency. Yes, kids will have to be punished if they violate the rules. Spouses too.

But that said, remember that part of the joy of working at home with the family around is that you can be around them. I’ve found that if I’m not truly deeply into something, just flow with the interruptions sometimes. Sometimes the kiddo just wants to show you what they did. It takes 30 seconds of my time (which I probably would have wasted on Facebook or something else), kiddo is happy, I am happy, it’s a win. Don’t shun your family. Just work to manage things. And yes, it will take time, failure, revision, and experimentation to find what works for you.

3. You are slacking off, because your boss is not watching

It’s very easy to slack because you’ll be surrounded by all your favorite things. You have to develop the self-discipline to keep working, because if you don’t, you’re out of a job. Bosses will eventually detect your level of productivity.

Take a little time to blow off steam, break up the day, all that stuff. But you still have to produce. In fact, it’s generally better to work to produce more, because really… you will have fewer distractions than being in the office. You can focus better. You won’t have everyone dropping by your cube. You don’t have a commute. You can be more productive.

And oh, get dressed every day. Just because no one has to look at your or smell you, you should still carry on as if people did. It will affect your psyche.

4. You alienate yourself from work community

This is true. You must work to overcome it. The author goes into the office now and again, but my office is thousands of miles away, so that’s not possible. You must make the extra effort to communicate with folks. IM is good, or maybe set up an IRC channel. Have ways to chat with people. Do pick up the phone now and again, because to hear voices is very warming and personalizing. If you can video chat, even better. Don’t be afraid to start the day with some quick pings to people to just say “hi”. You do have to have some sort of social setup with everyone, else well… you will be overlooked, you will be forgotten, and folks just won’t know much about you. Not always good for the long haul.

5. You work too much

Yup. This goes back to #1. You just have to draw lines and stick to them. Be flexible, but be firm. Don’t check work email in your non-work times. Don’t check messages. Work is work and should be put into that box and kept there. If you do not, everything will smear and work will take over your life. You can’t let it.

It isn’t easy to start working at home. It requires commitment and self-discipline. But I think the benefits are huge, both to myself and to whomever I’m working for. It’s a situation that’s worked well for over a decade for me, and I really can’t see any other way to work.

Working at home isn’t possible for every job. If your job can be done from home, consider it. But as well, know yourself. You just may need the constraints and environment “going to the office” puts on you. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s better to know yourself, know your limits, and know your capabilities.